I'm giving up my "boycott" of RIAA-controlled music. There's a lot of
reasons for this change of heart:

The RIAA has distribution deals with just about every label out
there. If you're looking at discs in Borders, WalMart, Barnes and
Noble, or Best Buy, there's a good chance that record passed through
some channel run by a RIAA supplier. Much like boycotting dairy
suppliers means you can't eat practically anything in a modern
society, boycotting RIAA music means you have fewer options
available to you.

I've broken it anyway. There's several albums that I've made
rare exceptions to obtain. The new Rush album, a Metal sampler,
Thelonious Monk... and likely ones that I thought were RIAA-free,
but were likely not. So, I'm already a hypocrite, which appears to
be the death of all principled arguments.

Some labels are getting it. My open letter to Roadrunner
Records
drew thoughtful response from the person who handles their mail-bag.
It's clear that the RIAA is an association of record labels, and
while some people "get it", others in higher places are working
against that will. Some labels may never get it (Sony, what the hell
is your problem?)

Labels are renouncing DRM. Amazon's MP3 store is a perfect
example of labels getting the new model. We'll see how long it
lasts, but having DRM-free music is a good thing. eMusic is another
great way to get some awesome music, and one day I'll check them
out.

Who am I really hurting? Ultimately, the artists are the ones
who suffer any loss from me not purchasing their CDs. It's a corrupt
model, but quite simply their the last in the food chain to get
paid. If the album sales dry up, the label still recoups it's costs
one way or another.

This doesn't mean I'll be stopping my purchases with smart labels like
Magnatune or Positron
Records, nor will my preferences with
non-RIAA labels be diminished; I'm no less an advocate of their business
model than before. I still think the Creative Commons is the way to go
for music, and I fully support artists who chose to license their music
under this model. I'm instead softening my stance a little in response
to an industry that appears to be realizing that the old model isn't
working, and a new model needs to take hold. As more and more RIAA
lawsuits go by the wayside, we will hopefully see a return to sanity.
Think of this as a truce, not a treaty.

And to you, the public, who think that just because the RIAA is evil
and the artists aren't getting paid, ergo I should steal music: please
stop. Just because the RIAA is evil doesn't mean you have carte
blanche to steal music. If you download something you like, buy the
album if you can. Music costs money to make, and good music should be
rewarded with album sales, not mindless downloading. The people at
Borders who didn't buy an album and decided to download it
instead
need to get their priorities straightened out.

Is this a case of a junkie coming back to his addiction after years of
being clean? Perhaps. I'd like to think of it as rewarding some good
behavior on the part of the industry.